The Mottly Brew

[cummic08]

What is the price on your BIAB chocolate coffee stout? It's not on the website? What is included in the kit?

[Qs]

Do you have much in the way of yeast? I need to get some lager yeast this week, preferably 34/70 if you have it.

[The Mottly Brew]

So its been rumoured  that we are closing down I can tell you now we are not! We will be diversifying in the new year probably getting rid of our fresh grain and hops as sales have declined dramatically in the last year. We will be focusing more on just extract kit sales and bringing in more related products. We do need your support to keep a homebrew shop in Dublin or we will just fail like all the others over the last few years. Its up to the member to show us you want a shop in Dublin and give us the support to grow or we will just go down another line and stop selling homebrew product altogether let me know your thoughts. Ian

[Simon_]

Where were the rumours coming from? 

Personally I'm interested in buying 25kg bags of base grain, smaller quantities of speciality grain and adjuncts, hops and interesting yeast. Maybe some Spraymalt for starters. I like the idea of being able to drive over and pick up the stuff I need and maybe stuff I don't need because I'm in the shop and like the look of stuff. I'd say there's enough room in the market for another big HB shop but the range and prices needs to be on par with your competitors or stocking products they don't supply. I think a big Dublin based shop could charge a small premium but being b & m will only get you so far. You need the product to get people in and you need to compete.
I've driven over and gotten stuff I wanted from you in the past but I don't think extract kits are enough to get people in the door.

Maybe up online sales as well and aim for some of the business outside the Dublin area.

[brianbrewed]

Getting rid of the grain and hops could be a mistake.

Update the website, grow online sales outside Dublin and Ireland.

Organise Homebrew Comps and/or beer tastings.
If you lose the grain/hops you could lose customers.

[pob]

I've often looked to head over to you to pick something up, to get the ingredients to build a recipe; but when I go on the website to see if you have it in stock or for a rough guide on the price, it is not very easy to find associated items in the place you'd expect them to be. I'm not going to spend 1.5 hrs driving to get there, if I don't expect to be able to pick everything up, I can already pay €5.75 delivery charge to my door knowing the order's complete.

On the website, it can be frustrating to try and find certain items, e.g. yeast. There are none listed in the Sugar/Malt/Yeast section where you might expect them. Looking for then using the Search facility brings up a long list, more like a blog with large images, it doesn't look like its the place to get it. Then when I persevered, I found them 3 pages into the Brewing Equipment section 

One reason that the Hop sales might have dropped off is that, you do not have consistent enough info listed on them, e.g. AA%, profile, some pricing looks out of kilter with your competition (appreciate a shop in Dublin has much higher overheads than one outside it, but a 100% increase doesn't sit right). Some of them also look to be be very old, 3 of them are 2015 harvest - we are seeing some 2017 hops in stock already & the images of the Cascade and Columbus don't look very vacuum packed (bags actually look inflated). It may be just that the descriptions need updating, but when your web presence isn't pristine, your business can be overlooked.

A small bit of time & effort in tidying this might improve business. It would certainly increase my chances of getting over to you & seeing other items in the shop that I wasn't originally looking for.

Wishing you well & hoping you continue to sell homebrew supplies.

[Dr Brown Ale]

Ian, please have a re-think on the grain. Get a proper system for storing hops, and stop selling 2015 hops, if they aren't shifting, de-list them. And finally, look into a much wider yeast range.

Serious home brewers (75%+ of this website) want these products, and you cannot rely on the "kit" market for ever, everyone who gets good at kits eventually looks to move on to extract and all grain brewing - if you can encourage that then  you'll have and keep customers for the lifetime of their brewing.

[molc]

Ian, please have a re-think on the grain. Get a proper system for storing hops, and stop selling 2015 hops, if they aren't shifting, de-list them. And finally, look into a much wider yeast range.

Just to echo what others are saying, this will only work with a proper website and online presence though. Bricks and Morter shops just can't compete in this market, nor would I argue are a viable business unless a strong online shop is backing it up.

I'd love to be able to drive over on a Saturday and pick up 25 kg bags of base grain, but without the freshness and stock churn that comes from running a constantly cycling inventory, it won't happen.

[johnrm]

Bricks and Mortar means nothing to anyone outside Dublin (Mountmellick and Galway excepted)
Web all the way.

A little planning and a fiver or so delivery to my door makes sense - Even for lads in Dublin it saves you dicking around in traffic.

[oreils87]

I used to call in to the shop for everything when i started but as I progressed from kits to All grain i found it harder and harder to get what I wanted and found my self going online to get fresh hops and liquid yeast's and it didn't make sense to make the trip in store just to get grain when I could add it to my online order.
Carry just kits is fine in short term but I'm sure a lot of people will be like be and move on from kits and find them self's looking to online suppliers.

[mr hoppy]

I'd love to be able to drive over on a Saturday and pick up 25 kg bags of base grain, but without the freshness and stock churn that comes from running a constantly cycling inventory, it won't happen.

Come to Cork and you can do that 5 days a week!

[SprocketFuel]

As already mentioned Ian, if your website was more user friendly the online sales would pick up. I love being able to pop into the shop and pick up grain and hops with out having to plan 2 or 3 days ahead if i want to brew

[kegging]

Be nice if there was somewhere to buy gas in Dublin

[The Mottly Brew]

https://www.facebook.com/themottlybrew/photos/a.213676575494401.1073741830.210137392514986/744345202427533/?type=3&notif_id=1515754489529110&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic

Not sure if this allowed feel free to remove!

[Vermelho]

"Catergories:
Best Female
Best Male"

Are you sure about this Ian? Do you really need to separate the sexes here?